Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Wanted to make something Ryan would like. (Ryan, I'll do the rigatoni another time! Promise!)

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. pack light brown sugar
1 egg
2 T. milk
1 t. vanilla
1 3/4 c. flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
Additional granulated sugar
~2 dozen Hersey kisses

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine peanut butter, butter, egg, milk, vanilla, sugars. Cream until well blended. Slowly add in dry ingredients. Dough will be stiff.

Using a cookie scoop or your hands, form into balls. Roll balls in sugar to coat.

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Immediately after removing cookies from oven, top with a chocolate kiss.

Banana Muffins

This was a recipe for banana crumb muffins, however I made a few changes...will try the crumb muffins at a later date.

Banana Muffins

1 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. cinnamon
3 mashed bananas
3/4 c. granulated sugar
1/3 c. packed light brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 c. oil

Preheat oven to 375. Line 10 muffin cups.

Mix flour, soda, baking powder, salt, & cinnamon.

In a separate bowl, beat bananas, sugars, egg, & oil.

Stir wet mixture into dry mixture until moistened.

Spoon into muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Tip: When mashing your bananas, mash them VERY well until they look like baby food and there are no clumps. You don't want pieces of mushy banana in your muffins!!!

Chicken Casserole

This yummy casserole came from an Amish Heritage cookbook I ordered over the summer. It takes some time, but it's really worth it. I had taken a picture of it, but for some reason it doesn't want to upload correctly. Will add later.

Chicken Casserole

1-1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
3 T. olive oil
12 oz package egg noodles
6 T. butter
6 T. flour
3 c. chicken broth
heaping pinch of salt
heaping pinch of celery salt
1 can cream of celery soup
1 can cream of chicken soup
8 oz Velveeta, cut up into cubes
Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing mix

Preheat oven to 300.

Cut up chicken into large chunks. Heat olive oil over low-med heat in a skillet. Sautee chicken until juices run clear and until no longer pink. Set aside

Boil noodles until done. Drain and set aside.

Reusing the same pan you cooked your noodles in, heat up the chicken broth and add the celery salt and salt.

(To minimize the amount of dirty dishes, just use the skillet you sauteed your chicken in and remove the grease and any pieces of chicken that may remain.) Melt butter over low-medium heat. Slowly add flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Continue cooking and stirring until mixture begins to bubble (about a minute or two). Remove from heat.

Add the heated broth to the butter/flour mixture, stirring quickly and constantly. Return to heat and continue stirring until mixture thickens...do NOT boil! (Now you may want to transfer this mixture to the pot you made your noodles in...use a BIG pot for this or you'll have a mess). Add the soups and Velveeta, stirring until creamy and smooth.

Mix the chicken and noodles into the sauce. Pour into a greased 9X13 pan. Liberally sprinkle stuffing mix on top. Bake for 45 minutes-1 hour...until mixture bubbles. You may cover with aluminum foil to prevent noodles on top from getting crunchy and overbrowning.

Egg Salad

Egg salad is one of my favorite things to eat. I like my egg salad creamy, not a lot of crunch, so I leave out the onions and celery.

Easy Egg Salad

5-6 eggs
2-2 1/2 heaping tablespoons of mayonnaise (don't use Miracle Whip!!)
2 t. sweet relish
Small pinches each of:
Salt
Pepper
Onion powder
Paprika

Hard boil the eggs (about 20 minutes). Remove from heat and cool. Cut up eggs into small chunks. Combine with the mayonnaise. Stir well until yolks are blended and no large clumps remain. Stir in the relish and the desired amount of salt, pepper, onion powder, and paprika. Refrigerate. Tastes great on wheat bread.

Tip: Salting the water that you boil your eggs in will make the shells easier to remove.

This is easy!

I know a lot of people are put off by pies because they don't want to fiddle with the crust. What better to make than an icebox pie? You can just buy a premade crust or make your own from cookies. Here's one that only takes 5 minutes.

EZ "Key Lime" Pie (Sugar Free)

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
16 oz. Cool Whip
1 package sugar free lime jello
1 graham cracker crust, sugar free (I use Fifty Fifty brand, you can buy them at Kroger)

In a mixing bowl, combine the cream cheese, 12 oz. of the Cool Whip, and the jello. Beat with a mixer until well blended. Pour into pie shell. Top with remaining Cool Whip. Refrigerate for a few hours before serving to allow to set. If you don't want sugar free pie, just use the real deal stuff, it works fine too.

Variation: Try using strawberry or raspberry Jell-o instead of lime. Serve with a side of fresh strawberries or raspberries for a healthy dessert.

French Fried Onions

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Ryan's always warning everyone to hide the French Fried Onions from me...They tend to disappear quickly as I eat them like potato chips! So I decided to make hamburgers with them.

French Fried Onion Burgers

1 lb lean ground beef
1 can French's french fried onions
Onion powder
Salt
Pepper
Velveeta slices

Reserve about 1/2 cup of your onions (we'll use them later). Take the remaining onions and crush up any big pieces. Put ground beef in a bowl and using your hands, combine the onions and the meat. Season with onion powder, salt, and pepper. Form into patties. Cook on a grill pan until well done. Top each burger with a slice of velveeta cheese. Using the remaining onions, divide evenly between the burgers and top. Makes 4 patties.

Hello

Ok so I have a blog now! I figured since I love food & cooking, I might as well blog about it. I got a brand new Canon digital camera for Christmas, so as soon as I get this up and running, I will include PICTURES with all the recipes!

Sugar-Free Apple Pie

1 box Jiffy pie crust mix (8 carbs)
6 c. thinly sliced Golden Delicious apples
3/4 c. Splenda
1 T. butter
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. vanilla extract
Optional: 1 T. flour
1 egg
1 T. water

Preheat oven to 450.
Prepare pie crust as directed on package. Press bottom layer into a 9 in. pie pan.
Peel and thinly slice the apples. Place in a large mixing bowl.
Combine Splenda and cinnamon. Add the Splenda/cinnamon mixture and the vanilla with the apples and combine until the apples are well coated.
Since this is a diabetic pie, I omitted the flour as I was trying to keep this as LOW carb as possible. If you wish, go ahead and add your flour in.
Pour filling into pie crust. Dot with the butter.
Using the rest of the pie crust, create a lattice on the top.
Using the egg and water, whisk together to create an egg wash. Apply to top crust.
Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes.
To avoid over browning, you may cover the pie with a layer of aluminum foil.

Happy Eating!